The AntiSanta
by CastielFan-Kari
Summary: Knecht Ruprecht has risen! He is the German anti-santa, and Castiel, Dean and Sam must stop him before he ruins Christmas for not just Germany, but the whole world!


_Knecht Ruprecht is real German folklore. I have tried to be true to the lore, but I have only briefly visited Germany, so I haven't a clue if this is accurate or not. At any rate, it was fun to write and hopefully enjoyable to read!_

* * *

"DEAN!" Came a familiar voice.

"Oh my God, whats wrong with him? It's Christmas!" Dean turned around in his chair and he and Sam watched as Castiel made his way down to him through the hustle and bustle of the Christkindl Mart.

"Dean, Sam, we have a problem." Castiel said when he reached them.

"Dude, you ALWAYS have a problem." Dean said, rolling his eyes. He took another sip of his Glühwein. "Hey, try some of this. This German stuff is nice." He was thoroughly enjoying his time in Germany, at least he had been after the demonic encounter. Those damn demons almost killed him and Sam as part of an unknown ritual which had unfortunately succeeded. They had escaped, but the demons had slaughtered two other men in their places, and since then they had been trying to find the demons. Today and tomorrow however they were going to take off, it was Christmas Eve after all! In the name of the holiday spirit, Dean was trying to forgive Castiel for making them fly out to Germany to stop the damned ritual. He wasn't entirely succeeding.

"This is about the demons." Castiel said too loudly. Several people from surrounding tables gave them strange stares.

"I thought you didn't speak English." He told them, and they gave him another strange look before going about their business.

"They don't, however the German word for demon is damon, pronounced similarly. Anyways, they're not our problem. The demons, their ritual... they summoned someone very, very dangerous."

"Couldn't we go for just one Christmas without some demon screwing it all up?" Dean asked.

"Who did they summon?" Asked Sam.

"Knecht Ruprecht." Was the answer. His name brought more stares from the surrounding masses.

"Let's talk somewhere more private." Sam said. They all got up and wandered away for a bit before finding a deserted alley, far from the Christmas market.

"So who's this Ruprecht guy?" Asked Dean.

"He's a sort of anti Santa Claus. In German folk lore, if you are good, and you pray and are religious, Saint Nicholas brings you toys. If you are naughty or aren't religious, Knecht Ruprecht will take you out and beat you with a bag of ashes."

"Nice." Dean said dryly.

"Usually he appears only on Christmas Eve, and only in Germany, and only for a few hours. The ritual the demons imposed however will allow him to walk the entire Earth forever. And the unfortunate part is that unless we counter the spell by midnight tonight, it is, to our knowledge, irreversible."

"So, if we can't shove the anti-Santa back into the abyss by Christmas, which is only four hours away, he's going to beat atheist children all over the world for eternity."

"Yes."

"Any idea how to reverse the spell?"

"Simple. Kill Knecht Ruprecht. He will be revived the day after Christmas, and the spell holding him in Hell until he is summoned to Germany only will be rebound. At least, until next Christmas."

* * *

"Are you sure he's here?" Dean asked. The question bounced off the walls and bounded back to them loudly.

"Where else would a child beating Santa go before his big venture out on Christmas Night?" Sam asked skeptically.

"He's here. I can sense him. This is where he was summoned, so this is where he is bound until midnight." Castiel pointed to a door which led to the second room of the warehouse. "There are only two rooms, so logically he must be in one. You and Sam check that one."

Sam and Dean shrugged and walked to the other door. "Hey, I have a question. Why is there no Santa Claus, but there IS an evil anti-Santa Claus?"

"Has the world ever been logical before now Dean?" Sam asked, which caused Dean to shut up temporarily.

The warehouse was large and very, very dusty. "I can see why they picked here to summon him. No-one would walk in and interrupt them." Said Sam. "When they tried it before it was in a much smaller area."

They had been searching over and under things for around ten minutes when loud crashes and bangs started up from Castiel's room. The brothers ran towards him, and Dean arrived first.

"Woah." He said, pausing for a moment.

"What?" Asked Sam, before catching up and witnessing the bizarre spectacle for himself. Castiel was being held by bars of metal which had been twisted around him by the strength of a very strange man. He wore black fur, which had probably been white at some stage, but every inch of him was grimy and covered in black soot. He had a long black beard, which was flecked with pea-straw, and every move he made caused the tiny bells on his clothes to horribly clang. In one hand he was carrying a long wooden staff which he was hitting Castiel with. In his other hand was a large black bag which, presumably, was filled with coal.

"You have been BAD Castiel!" The man shouted and clouted the angel in the face with the dirty staff, leaving streaks of red blood and black soot across his features.

"I'm an angel of the Lord! I couldn't be more holy! Why are you attacking me?" Castiel said, struggling, but the metal bonds held him in place.

"Commandment five! Honor thy mother and father! You broke this by defying your elder brothers and sisters when you fell from the graces of heaven! You have been bad Castiel!" He hit the angel again.

"Wow, are you messed up." Dean said, drew his knife and ran towards him, but Knecht Ruprecht was ready. He turned and struck Dean across the face with his staff.

"You, Dean, have been REALLY bad. You have broken commandment three, 'You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain'. You broke commandment four, 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' You have been working on Sundays you're entire miserable life! You broke commandment six, 'You shall not murder' more times then I can count, what with all those poor demons. You broke commandment eight, 'Thou shalt not steal', AND you lie to everyone you ever meet!" After this speech he started hitting Dean repeatedly, and when Sam tried to intervene, Knecht threw his bag of ash at him.

It struck Sam and knocked him back into the wall. Ash? That bag must be full of bricks! When he landed, it landed on top of him, effectively winding and pinning him.

"I'll deal with you next, Sam, for you have broken even more commandments then you're brother." He turned back, to find Dean gone. "Where have you gone Dean? You cannot escape from your sins!"

He turned, and found Dean prying apart the bars of metal constraining Castiel with a crowbar. The angel tore free. Knecht tried to hit Dean with his staff, but Castiel blocked it, grabbed the staff and broke it in half.

"No! What have you done? My staff!" Knecht threw himself at Castiel, who whipped out his knife and plunged it into the fat anti-santa's stomach.

"Goodbye Ruprecht." Castiel said, pushing him off his archangel blade. So, it killed not only angels, but anti-santa's as well. He sheathed it again, and wiped the blood off his face with the back off a hand. "Dean." He caught Dean's attention, and healed him. With a crack, Dean's cuts and bruises disappeared.

"Remind me why I ever thought German traditions were cute." Dean said, pushing the ash bag off his brother and helping him up.

"You didn't. You just liked the Glühwein because it's sweeter and hotter then ordinary wine."

"Yeah, well, despite that I think I'll spend next Christmas back in America."


End file.
